Resort-Wear Outfit
Submitted By: Alice B
I had been looking for a “resort-wear” outfit, and didn’t find anything reasonably priced that fit me. Also desiring zip-off legs, this definitely did not exist. And I didn’t want cotton. I had this vision of what I wanted, and looked at every pattern that might be suitable in the pattern books at my local JoAnn’s store. I wanted something that wouldn’t look like I walked out of a doctor’s office in my scrubs, so I wanted some construction details, like belt loops, a real waistband (not elastic), with button and zipper closure. I chose Simplicity 1316 for the top and Burda 6725 for the pants. The pants were skinny jeans that were meant to be rolled up, so I altered the pattern quite a bit, in width and length. I wanted pockets deep enough that I could put a few essentials in them and not have to carry a purse. So I altered the pockets to achieve this, and eliminated the back pockets.
The hardest part was determining the width of the legs and where to put the zippers to make them into shorts (where to chop the pattern for the right length). I found matching blue zippers (shown in one picture above) online at SewTrue (two 24″ and one 7″), so I had to make sure that the length of the zippers for the legs would match the circumference of the legs. Too much zipper, and that wouldn’t work. Too much fabric, and there’s a gap between the beginning and end of the zipper. I erred on the latter side, and have about a half-inch gap. It doesn’t affect the performance, and one can’t tell, as the upper flap of the shorts covers this.
Rather than just tacking the top’s facing, I opted to sew it down with metallic thread (which I just happened to have, because I love the colors) in a stitch that complemented the swirls of the fabric design. It’s a bit hard to see in the picture.
I wore this outfit on my trip with an inch-wide white belt with a gold buckle. It looked OK. I am really happy to have found this 1 1/4″ wide belt online (purchased from Amazon, from Beltiscool). I think it looks great with the outfit, and it was exactly what I had in mind.